Friday, June 27, 2008

Despite school being out for the summer, we've both been keeping extra busy lately.

Much like last summer, Rob spent the month of June working mornings at a local elementary school as an ESL teacher. This time, however, the students were Japanese! With a huge new Toyota plant being built just outside of town, lots of Japanese families are starting to move to Tupelo. Rob's classes were very small - only 3 students - and the experience was a rewarding one.

Rob also took an afternoon job as a math instructor at Mathnasium, a nation-wide chain of after-school math-tutoring centers. This has also been a rewarding job experience - it's much more laid-back than working at the high school, and also much more helpful in learning the best strategies for teaching math.

As for Carley, the rigors of her after-school program are on hold until September. Nevertheless, she has been hard at work writing grant proposals and seeking out donors and corporate sponsors, to keep El Centro a viable organization.

However, the hard work in June is winding down, as we're about to head out with Rowan and Kina on a 3-week roadtrip! We'll have stops in New Orleans, Houston, Austin, Tucson, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Look for lots and lots of photos when we get back in mid-July!

New Blogger Layout

Unfortunately the "Blog Archive" feature (above) on Blogger's new layout is totally lame. If you miss the sidebar navigation system we used to have on this blog, go here to see the new and improved version.